Keeping the Waves Rolling
Rippling out from the Mouth-of-the-Murray town of Goolwa, where it all began in 2012 with the state’s Regional Centre for Culture, the people of the Alexandrina region were the beneficiaries of the highest concentration of arts seen anywhere in regional Australia, ever.
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Signal Point Gallery December 2014 -
The kids behind the 'Creating Coonalpyn' silo project pose for a photo. -
A documentary film by Marty McNicol shows what an intensive period of arts activity can achieve in a small community, through this successful Regional Centre of Culture/Cultural Places model. Members of community tell their own stories of how Just Add Water has impacted on them and their community. The film is available online https://thedirtsa.com.au/project/just-add-water/ and compliments Dr Christine Putland's research findings (also online here). -
Alexandrina Council continues its wide-ranging arts and culture program under the banner of Just Add Water and has made a commitment to ensure that arts resources are spread throughout the region with new arts grants and embedded strategic planning ensuring that good ideas can be realised from wherever in the region they are generated. Significant legacies include Kondoli, The Centenary Hall performing Arts Program, Adelaide Fringe and Signal Point Gallery. -
Change and Adaptation informed the main theme “Resilience as Process” behind the 2015 series of artist residencies “This Is A River” which you can begin to explore on this website https://thedirtsa.com.au/project/this-is-a-river/
On the south coast, they know how to surf a wave.
Which is just as well, because from 2012-2014 the waves just kept rolling.
Rippling out from the Mouth-of-the-Murray town of Goolwa, where it all began in 2012 with the state’s Regional Centre for Culture, the people of the Alexandrina region were the beneficiaries of the highest concentration of arts seen anywhere in regional Australia, ever.
Being ‘shovel-ready’ won the region two more years as a federally funded arts stimulus pilot, it was a clear-cut choice to host the national arts conference Kumuwuki/Big Wave given the huge community-based artistic program on tap and, emerging from a ten-year drought, it was a natural collaborator in Change & Adaptation, a resilience and wellbeing focussed suite of arts projects embedded in the service delivery of the health and environment sectors over the same period.
So where was Alexandrina in 2015 when the music stopped – when four incredible years of state and federal funding came to an end? How many people were left high and artistically dry? Very few as it happens and, well the music never actually stopped. The Alexandrina community had passed the point of no return—the voice for change had become more articulate and there was a strong sense that the community could no longer live without arts as a fundamental part of daily life.
Still called Just Add Water, in recognition that growth and new life are encouraged by taking action, a rich and diverse artistic package regenerates annually, driven by a confidence to transform aspiration into expression, the will to celebrate artistic achievement and a greater accord within council and with the community.
The ripples had disregarded council boundaries and lapped into nearby Victor Harbor where a healthy, motivating envy ensured they’re no longer to be upstaged and into Coonalpyn, where memories of the action from Ripples Murray Bridge in 2010 also lingered, spurring them to an arts-led revival of their tiny town successful beyond their wildest imaginings.
For us, it navigated a new course across regional South Australia, embracing a holistic, artist-centric philosophy where matching artists with communities to make new work and interconnected experiences lead to richer engagement for everyone.
